Aerophilately India – INLAND NIGHT AIR MAIL – India 1949

INLAND NIGHT AIR MAIL – India 1949

On 30th January 1949, cards and letters written by ordinary Indian citizens suddenly started to fly across the country at record speed. This was courtesy of the launch of the revolutionary Night Air Mail Service or NAM – the birth of air mail in India.

 Since daytime flights could carry only passengers, the only alternative was night air mail. The NAM used a hub-and-spoke model, which linked the four principal cities – Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras – to Nagpur.

Mail from these cities was flown to Nagpur, sorted and flown back to their respective cities the same night. It was delivered the next day.

To maximise speed, mobile post offices in each of the four main cities collected mail at designated points and delivered it straight to the airport for the flights to Nagpur. On some nights in the 1960s, as many as 10 flights headed to Nagpur in just one night!